The average house now costs a record £250,000, with prices rising strongly across the whole country by 5.5 per cent.

London is fuelling the property price boom, up 12.3 per cent in a year to £450,000 after Bank of England governor Mark Carney admitted he could do little more than ‘watch’ as prices rocket.

Prices are also rising faster for first-time buyers than those already on the property ladder, up 7.4 per cent in a year.

The Office for National Statistics said that in England, house prices rose by 5.7 per cent over the year to reach £250,000 on average.

In Wales prices are up 4.8 per cent to £167,000, while in Northern Ireland, which saw some particularly strong price falls after the economic downturn, values have also climbed 4.8 per cent to £135,000 typically.

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Meanwhile, Scotland has seen prices lift by 0.5 per cent over 2013 to reach £182,000 on average.

The figures also show that the average first-time buyer is paying 7.4 per cent more for a home than they were a year ago.

In December, the typical price paid by someone getting on the property ladder was £189,000.

Home-movers are paying 4.7 per cent more than they were in December 2012. The average price paid by an existing home-owner has risen to £286,000.

Charity Shelter warned that the landmark figures are evidence that prices are ‘spiralling out of control’.

Chief executive Campbell Robb said: ‘Yet again, the Government's own figures show that house prices are still spiralling out of control.

‘Until we build enough homes to keep house prices stable, more young people and families desperate to put down roots will see a home of their own become a distant dream.

‘Schemes like Help to Buy are only making the problem worse by inflating house prices further. To give the next generation a fighting chance, the Government needs to get serious about building more affordable homes now.’

The house price index for the South East and the East is now above its pre-financial crisis peak, by 1.9 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively.

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said: 'These figures show that the housing market is in robust health, thanks to the Government's actions taken to keep interest rates down and our initiatives to help people get onto the housing ladder through schemes like Help to Buy and Right to Buy.

'We have kick-started house-building, with registrations of new-build homes the highest in London since records began 26 years ago, and the highest for seven years across England as a whole.

'Our affordable housing programme is investing almost GBP20 billion in homes for those on lower incomes too, to ensure all hard-working people benefit from the economic recovery.'